The elephant in our lives at this time is always Ellie. She's a cute, petite elephant and very busy and troublesome, but we love her and she is worth the wait. Ellie and I met her dad on Monday, January 5th for the first time. Talk about stressful!! It ended up fine as I knew it would, but it was quite awkward. Well, the situation is awkward and then on top of it I stayed the whole two hour visit so Ellie didn't cry and he didn't say much more than a peep to me. Just FYI: Extroverts do not do well with quite people. It was so unnerving! He didn't ask one single question about her. He kept taking her picture with his cell phone and then wanting to pick her up. He seems fine and nice enough enough but he wants Ellie and he has 4 children with 4 different women, none of which ladies he seems to be currently attached to. Oh, and I found his open Facebook page. I don't need to look at that again.
Ellie's dad has shown up twice and engages her appropriately so I think in the eyes of the county this is forward progress. I don't put too much stock in all this jazz because it's not what happens in between that matters, it's the end. Jesus, I trust in you.
A sweet friend gave me a book called The Book of Confidence by Father Thomas de Saint-Laurent. This book has become a treasure to me! The purpose of this book is to encourage people to exercise the virtue of confidence, which is a "fortified hope". The author reminds us that Jesus is our property, "For a child is born to us", and that if He belongs to us, so do the merits of His works, suffering, and of His death. Because of this, we can and should take advantage of this wondrous gift and ask for what we need and want.
"Let us, then, offer up our prayers to heaven with holy audacity, and, in the name of the Redeemer who is ours, let us without hesitation implore all the graces that we desire. Let us ask for temporal blessing and , above all, for the help of grace."
I realized at Mass this week that the more we receive Jesus in the Eucharist, the more we become like Him. In turn, our prayers are more pure and more powerful. This year and a half with Ellie has changed me for the better. I would not trade it, but because I am so human, neither would I have asked for it. ;)
I feel peaceful in the waiting and we will wait as long as it takes because that's what love does. Blessed Mother Teresa said, "To be true, love has to hurt...Jesus said, "Love one another as I have loved you." He loved until it hurt." Good things come to those who wait!
There are so many generous people who are praying diligently along with us for Ellie and we feel those prayers. It's what sustains us and makes this trial sweet. Many good things continue to happen while we wait for Ellie to be ours and so this experience that seemed to have turned into the unthinkable has been for lack of another word, redeemed. Don't you see? He makes all things beautiful! We would appreciate your continued prayers that invoke the graces that are holding us up. We are praying for you too!
Some of the highlights since last time are..
Nash got stitches Friday night after he fell at Mark's parents' house and nailed his forehead on a door jam. I wasn't there, but I hear the blood was legendary. It was so deep Mark said he saw his skull! Nash ended up with 2 deep interior stitches and 10 normal. He was so brave! Mark said after the initial 5 minutes of crying, he was good. Not a fuss at the hospital either. Amazingly, he didn't even get a concussion. He's fine, the stitches are gross, but much improved from the gaping hole that was in the middle of his forehead.
The morning before the stitches we looked at a house/farm to buy. It's so close to our current house and with 5 bedrooms, the whole deal is a good fit for us. HOWEVER, the sellers have been trying to sell the house and barn for 2 years, but do not want to part with the land that would make the 7 stall barn (YES!!!!!) usable. They claim that they aren't selling it as a horse farm, but I've been watching the for sale sign and property for over a year and it clearly was advertised as a horse farm before they decided to hold on to the additional acreage. They have been holding out for when/if a developer comes along to offer them big bucks for their land. That plan hasn't been working out so now they say they only want to sell the house and barn with no property. Good luck!! We buried a Miraculous Medal in the front landscaping and we are waiting for Mary to work this out for our family. Let it be so!
No matter what happens with the farm our master bath is on the brink of an overhaul. We have some water issues from the shower that the previous home owners painted over that needs to be addressed. My sister and I went to The Tile Shop last weekend and found some things that I like. I have a vision and now my brother-in-law Steve is going to help pull it all together into something that works and looks nice. Hopefully, we should begin in about a month. I'll do before and after photos. :)
I am now officially leading a girls' FNE Timber Wolf Den. It's a branch of the Catholic explorer group that Mark and Luke have been doing for over a year now. Stella's in the younger kids' group so Nash is looking forward to turning 6 so he can enjoy the fun. Our first meeting was the last Thursday in January and we had 12 girls show up! I'm not sure if all of them are going to stick with us, but I told anyone who was interested to come the first two meetings to try it out and see if they want to commit. It was a lot of fun, so I do hope everyone sticks around.
Another exciting milestone in our family is that Luke got braces!! Much like Children's hospital, I think we will just keep making payments to the orthodontist for now until forever because Stella is going to get evaluated next month also. She has a tiny mouth like mine and her permanent teeth are in danger if there isn't enough room for them to come in properly. Fun times!
Here are the pictures from the end of December and from January...
The first are recent one from my iPhone. I was too lazy to reorder them and the second is a graphic picture of Nash's forehead. Beware!
WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!! Gross stitches picture below! If you have a weak stomach, keep on scrolling.
These are the pictures from my camera from December...
Nash insisted on the sharks. This was the first time I tried a GF sugar cookie recipe in a long, long time. I found it on Pinterest and then I watched a few videos to improve the experience. I'm not a baker and in the past the dough was too warm and nothing would turn out as we hoped so I learned a few tips this time that made the experience so much better. For one I made the dough ahead of time without the kids. :)
Well, there you have it! I'll see you back here later and let you know how the bathroom's going, if we are going to be farmers and if I haven't lost my mind keeping one tiny toddler safe. :) See ya!
